Rust - Chapter 469



Only Krnovel

RUST -469

Just as Den Brown was annoyed by the half-and-half Hood’s face, Hood was also annoyed by Den Brown’s expressionless face.

It’s rough.

More so now than last time.

I could feel it because I was living with burns for days and because I was so sensitive to people’s gaze.

A sense of discomfort on Dan Brown’s face. His face was as expressionless as ever, but something was different inside that expressionless shell.

Xenia Rodden wiggled her toes in slight nervousness.

Her freely wriggling toes set her mind at ease. Is that why you started by treating her feet?

“The alliance is not something I can decide on. This time, I am not here as a plenipotentiary.”

“···That’s true. Even if he was an ambassador, he would just repeat the same thing like a parrot within the established lines, so it wouldn’t be much different if he came as a special envoy.”

At Dan Brown’s calm words, the white part of Hood’s face turned red for a moment and then subsided.

The Empire strongly demanded the sale of two Aegis ships, but the Kingdom sold only one. After lengthy negotiations, it was decided to exchange two submarines for one new and one old ship.

“Yes. Everything will be done according to the contract. Now that the river has thawed, the Kingdom’s Aegis ships will be deployed from the Southern Sea Front. And the submarine handover will take place in two weeks.”

At the time of the contract, at the request of the Empire, they were standing guard against Confederate raids until the St. Lawrence River thawed. Now that the river has thawed, the two Aegis ships are ready to go.

Dan Brown was silent for a moment. He had said something earlier. Perhaps that was why he nodded without any change in expression and asked again.

“Is that the main point? Is it all about the fact that the Empire’s airspace has been breached and the issue of contract fulfillment?”

Hood also accepted the words calmly.

“As I mentioned earlier, we have captured the M109A1 155mm self-propelled howitzers and howitzers operated by the rebels. We need repair parts, ammunition, and maintenance personnel.”

“And?”

“Smuggling is rampant between the Kingdom and the Empire. Before the smuggling problem becomes serious, we would like to discuss formal methods of trade or the establishment of a permanent market.”

“Smuggling. That’s a problem.”

The goods imported from the kingdom were more than expected. Coal and its processed products. Iron and steel products were considered almost essential.

In addition, there was a special product of the kingdom. Exosuits. As Vladimir Kalin toured the western region, he took away all the exosuit production facilities and even semiconductor-related equipment.

At the time, the Department of Homeland Security was caught up in political strife and couldn’t focus on anything else. Also, it was thought that even if Vladimir Kalin took over the production facility, there wouldn’t be any major problems.

Even if we produce it in Vlad’Ak Tower or a slightly expanded town, how much demand would there be? I thought it would be enough to trade moderately, but everything went wrong.

Vladimir Kalin’s forces declared an independent kingdom, while this side declared an empire.

“I received reports of suspicious people. It was smuggling.”

In response to Dan Brown’s glare demanding more about smuggling, Van Van Hood simply wiggled his toes under the table.

“···A permanent market is necessary. However, the location is not… Buffalo would be the best location considering it is close to the kingdom and is easily accessible by land, but unfortunately, Buffalo has run into problems. Because of the kingdom.”

“You’re saying there’s a problem because of the kingdom?”

What the hell is that?

General Dan Brown showed the material to Hood.

“The tame crows of the kingdom chased away flocks of birds from that direction towards Buffalo. As a result, Buffalo is now home to a variety of birds.”

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under-

“So, geographically, Buffalo is the best location, but whether we open a permanent market or promote trade, we need to take care of the flocks of birds in and around Buffalo.”

“······.”

Maru was dumbfounded after reading the report that Hood brought.

“The buffalo was devoured by a flock of birds, so it’s our crows who are responsible for this. If you solve the bird problem, I’ll open a permanent market in Buffalo.”

“······Yes.”

From an imperial perspective, it might seem that way, but clearing the flock of birds that had crossed over to Buffalo was a different matter.

Starting with the Niagara Exposure, the city in the kingdom is Niagara Falls, and the imperial city on the other side is Buffalo.

“Where is the suspected smuggling route for Diana?”

[It was identified as being located along the major cities along the St. Lawrence River, starting with Buffalo.]

Cities like Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec were used as smuggling routes. It was so long after the kingdom was founded that smuggling routes emerged. Humans were truly amazing.

“I see. So you’re saying that there’s another reason why the Empire picked up the buffalo?”

The PD spoke while looking at a place believed to be a major smuggling route.

“For now, yes. Even if the Sacred Crow Corps had been established, it would not have been enough to overwhelm the flock of birds that had taken over Buffalo.”

The Sacred Ravens’ full-scale deployment came when they suppressed the Welland Canal terrorist attack near Niagara Falls.

Naturally, they scouted and cleared the area around the Welland Canal. Afterwards, they were mobilized to attack the rebels who had planned an ambush attack.

In other words, it is difficult to believe that the Sacred Crow Corps was able to drive away a flock of birds large enough to take over the buffalo.

If they were in the thousands or at most tens of thousands, they might have been able to be driven away, but given the size of the flock that had taken over the buffalo, it made no sense to blame the sacred crows for everything.

There was no way that Dan Brown didn’t know this. If he really didn’t know, he didn’t think to find out more, or even if he did know, he said, ‘I don’t know.’ It means that he was planning to push it this way.

So what do you get?

What do you really want?

Maru’s eyes began to scan Hood’s report.

One of the reasons I sent the hood. Hacking ability.

Just like last time, this time she had gathered some rough information.

Just as the Kingdom was plagued by madmen, so was the Empire. As the Empire was made up of nine states, the early stages of this breakdown required the creation and maintenance of provincial strongholds and markets.

‘As fast as possible? There’s a limit to how fast an airship can go.’

It was a regular ship that traveled between the kingdom and the empire. It was escorted by the kingdom’s ravens, but since it did not operate within the empire, it was only possible to fly at night within the empire.

Maru’s eyes, which were reading the report, stopped at one point.

[Successful operation to retake John F. Kennedy Airport.]

[···The punitive force moves to recapture the airport in the northeast region···.]

So it wasn’t a flock of birds, but rats that took over the airport?

There was information that an airport had been created where the food chain was reversed during the winter.

Maru looked up at the map. Buffalo. And above it, Niagara Falls International Airport. Dan Brown was trying to get the airport running again.

The moment the Empire could operate the airport normally, the air supremacy would pass to the Empire. Moreover, if it was Niagara Falls International Airport, it would be an airport that could put the entire Canadian part of the Kingdom within its operational range.

“It looks like they’re trying to retake key airports, starting with New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.”

“Ah, so you were aiming for the airport.”

“I thought it was nothing, and it was that.”

PD and Hood agreed with Maru’s interpretation.

A nurse who was chatting with a crow sitting on her shoulder said that a swarm of rats had taken over the airport that had been overrun by a flock of birds.

“Ah, they say that if rats take over an airport, birds will flock to it.”

“Because there are a lot of rats?”

“Yes. And they say they moved towards Buffalo because there was a lot of food there. Right?”

Knock!

The crow perched on the nurse’s shoulder nodded.

“Let’s reject the request to exterminate a flock of buffalo birds.”

“······.”“······.”

There was no dissent. The buffaloes controlled by the birds would have been an eyesore to the empire, but from the kingdom’s perspective, they were an excellent neutral territory. There was no reason to take risks and subdue the birds.

“Let’s suggest a trade route through Montreal or the upper reaches. Even if it’s far, it seems better. If the Empire refuses, let’s settle this by increasing the number of regular airships.”

Rather than being entangled in an uncomfortable situation, it was better to hold out as long as possible by expanding trade volume.

“And we will identify and eliminate the smuggling route as quickly as possible. Smuggling is subject to the zero-tolerance principle. We will catch the smugglers as soon as we identify them. Even if they are Imperial citizens, there will be no exceptions.”

Maru was sensitive to smuggling. The outflow of precious metals due to smuggling was a problem, but the bigger problem was drugs. The spread of drugs under the pretext of painkillers or tranquilizers had to be stopped.

They may make excuses saying that they only brought painkillers, but do you think the smugglers would distribute them without knowing that they are narcotic ingredients? Should we believe them if they say they smuggled painkillers and tranquilizers? Even if that were the case, smuggling is smuggling. There is no tolerance.

“All smugglers will be sent to reeducation through labor.”

Until you become good.

If the Empire responded lukewarmly to smuggling, we would be the ones to take the blame.

“And the request for support in monster subjugation will be put on hold.”

The request to send Kim Yang and his guards to support the suppression was also put on hold. Although Den Brown’s intention was to have Maru come, he also knew that it would be difficult to treat the king of a country like a mercenary.

So what I requested was Ms. Kim and the guards. Both she and the guards had accumulated a lot of experience from going here and there, so they were veterans who could handle most situations.

“Wouldn’t rejecting or putting on hold all of the Empire’s requests damage our relationship?”

“It won’t matter. It doesn’t really matter.”

Maru calmly answers Hood’s concerns.

If the kingdom is already in the United States, if the empire is unified, it is more than a war.

And even if they wanted to send Miss Kim and the guards away, they couldn’t. While Hood was a special envoy to the Empire, Miss Kim and the guards went to educate the madmen.

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The village that refused to vacate the premises was like a small fortress.

“Bogs!

“Who are you to tell us to get out of our land!”

“Come in! I said come in!”

Ms. Kim, who arrived at the scene, was dumbfounded.

Even when a unit armed with exosuits comes, they aren’t afraid and just attack?

Are you crazy?

Even if the infection caused cognitive impairment, it would have been almost completely recovered by now… Are you saying that they were crazy from the beginning?

She thought that if she had known this would happen, she should have brought the Leopard 2 tank she had just acquired instead of the exosuit unit.

“When I call a lawyer, you send an armed army? That’s the way of the kingdom!”

“Get out! We cannot tolerate communists destroying private property.”

Kim was shocked to see the townspeople band together to mount an armed resistance.

Is this because it’s America? Or is this because the world is broken?

[If you don’t want to hand over the land after receiving compensation, then hand over the necessities and subsidies you received.]

Taaaaang!

“Get out! Our land is not for sale!”

“What have you guys done for me!”

“Did you protect me from the monster? Or did you help me survive the cold?”

“Winter is almost over, you’re throwing us a piece of bread, giving us a few pennies, and you’re going to take our land away!”

“Go out there and die! Just come here and I’ll kill you!”

“I told you to just come!”

“If you don’t want to get screwed, get out!”

No. What the- You didn’t do anything?

That’s true too.

Who wants to sell all your land?

You said that just a few people need land there, so what about all of us?

It was really absurd.

So instead of buying just a few people’s land, why don’t you buy all the land in the surrounding area? And for 2,000 gold per household?

Kim Yang’s eyes became cold and sank.

[Enter. Engagement is permitted from the current time.]

[ancient!]

“Come on. Come on and have some fun.”

“COME ON! MOTHER FUC—-!”

They were the guards who silently advanced toward the village gate despite provocations and ridicule.

Just as they were about to enter the town with their shields raised like Roman legions, the dynamite exploded.

Kwaaaaang!